Monday, July 16, 2007

The latest SI.com Power Rankings still have the Dodgers and Padres neck and neck near the top of the list:

San Diego Padres (#6)Chris Young has a 1.14 ERA over his past 10 outings, with nine quality starts in there, yet his record is only 4-0 in that swing. And if that doesn't say just about everything that needs to be said about the balsa-swinging Padres, you're just not paying attention. General manager Kevin Towers has tried to add some punch with Milton Bradley and Michael Barrett. Can that be enough in a dogfight of a division?

Los Angeles Dodgers (#8)The Dodgers took over first place in the NL West with a sweep of the lame Giants. New first baseman James Loney is hitting .385 with a 1.039 OPS through his first 27 games this season. If he can keep that up, the Dodgers can stay in first. But then there's the question: Can they really win with a back end of Chad Billingsley, Brett Tomko and Mark Hendrickson?